The state qualifiers: Brady Beck

Despite illness, senior heavyweight takes 2nd at semistate

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Brady Beck

Even in the midst of the battles in the trenches during football season, Brady Beck was practicing wrestling once a week during football season.

Such is his dedication.

So a stomach bug was not going to prevent him from making the state finals for the third straight year, and he did that by finishing second at 285 pounds at the East Chicago semistate last week.

But Beck, who is ranked No. 2 in the state per IndianaMat.com, lost to top-ranked Paul Clark of Crown Point in overtime in the final. The loss was his first of the season, and it came with some controversy attached.

Rochester coach Clint Gard thought Beck should have been awarded back points late in regulation and a takedown in overtime. Had officials awarded him points in either situation, Beck would have won.

“The takedown, that’s whatever,” Beck said. “He had my leg, but I had stepped over. That’s a referee’s call, but the back points, he counted to two. He didn’t take a break. It was one-two. I thought I had it. Everybody else thought I had it. I just couldn’t get it, I guess.”

Beck said he had some “stomach problems” Thursday and Friday before the semistate. He thought he had it “figured out” after his ticket match victory over Hanover Central’s Collin Foy.

“I figured out that I had not, so I had to put a little more sugar in my body, which I don’t usually like to do because it weighs me down, but the sugar helped and getting more water than electrolytes helped a little bit. I felt better the last two matches, but I still thought I had something out there.”

Beck began his day with a first-period fall over Merrillville’s Raymond James. He then beat Foy 3-0 in the ticket round – Beck called Foy “quite strong and very big and really hard to hold down” – and Highland’s Aramis McNutt 5-2 in the semifinals.

Against Clark, he trailed 3-0 before getting an escape and a reversal to even the match.

“Not terrible,” Beck said. “I thought I pushed the pace pretty decent. I held my positions. Obviously, I gave up that late takedown but held it together in the actual match. Did what I needed to do and just didn’t get the call.”

Beck drew Leo sophomore Isaiah Coolman and will wrestle him in the first round of the state finals at the Ford Center in Evansville tonight.

Beck finished sixth at state at 220 pounds in 2022 and seventh at state at 220 last year. He weighs approximately 35 more pounds now than he did each of the last two years.

He wrestled Will Clark, Paul’s twin brother at last year’s state finals, and lost a 7-4 decision in the quarterfinals. He said his mental approach has changed this year.

“They’re both pretty similar,” Beck said of the Clark brothers. “One thing I brought in today was a different mindset. I was scared to death when I wrestled Will at state last year. Today, in a normal gym in a new place, I just went out there and wrestled. … Obviously, there’s something still out there, but I thought it was a good match for me.”